~ The view from Forty-something

(Almost) DAILY OBSERVATIONS

Thirty minutes isn’t much time for a lunch break, but really a lot can happen in that time. Babies can be born. Games can be won. Planets can collide. Stars can fizzle out. Wars can end. Dormant buds can finally burst into bloom. Love can be made.

In thirty minutes you can turn your head thirty different directions and see something new each minute. Try it. You might be dizzy , but you’ll see a lot of interesting sights.

While wandering the other day on my lunch break, I passed into a sunny courtyard. I don’t typically pass through this place, so I was more hyper aware of my surroundings. The sun was heavy and hard on the stone, radiating heat and igniting the aromatic lavender plants.

Here he is pretending he doesn't see me.

I stopped in my tracks for two reasons. One is I have a slight bird phobia (this guy was bigger than my sister’s lap dog) and secondly I had to stop and really look at what I was seeing. Slowly I pulled my camera out, but the movement caught his black beady eye and he broke the pose I wanted to capture.

When I came first upon this sassy fellow, he was on the very top of the fountain, letting the cool water bubble over his spiky black feet that (and this is the phobia talking) I’m sure he would have used to scratch my eyes out given the opportunity. He would lift one up and then the other, letting the water drip off each foot as it was raised.

Thankfully he was more interested in cooling his feet than clawing at my hair or eyes and hopped down to the next level of the fountain pretending he didn’t see me. He was coquettish in his manner. He cocked his head to the side a few times, turned this way, then that, squawked at me for disturbing him and flew away.

Looking at me and deciding whether or not to peck my eyes out.

His shiny, raven attitude made me smile. He was hot and just trying to cool down his scratchy feet. It was comical and a definite one minute moment out of thirty that I remembered for the next twenty four hours.

A lot can happen in thirty minutes. Pies can be baked. Poems can be written. Kittens can shred your curtains. A crow can make you smile.